


Maternity Leave

by emilyevanston



Series: Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, birth story, emergency medical intervention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:52:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14566458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/emilyevanston
Summary: You right up until your maternity leave trying to find the cure for Bruce.  Turns out, not everyone is happy about a cure.





	Maternity Leave

Being happy, really truly happy, is a funny feeling when you get it.  Especially when it comes at the end of a long row of stress or sadness.  You feel physically lighter, the burdens of what you’d been carrying no longer weighing you down.  You feel healthier too.  You have more energy.  Things taste different.  Colors seem brighter.  Yet at the same time, you seem to keep expecting that next thing to come along and ruin it.  So you keep bracing yourself for the world to fall apart again.

That’s how you feel now.  Things are good.  Your pregnancy is going well considering it’s twins.  You’re tired sure, and heavy, and you kept banging your stomach into things, but the doctors are happy about how things are developing and you feet pretty good.  Both the babies are growing at the same rate.  They’re identical girls.  You’d taken a while to figure out names. Agreeing on two names at the same time is hard.  Especially when you’re both as stubborn as each other.  You’d eventually gotten there though.  The nursery is set up.  Clothes have been purchased.  Now you’re trying to relax and wait for them to fully cook.  There were doctors appointments and prenatal classes where you and Tony just snarked at everyone about just about everything.  Turns out, other expecting parents were annoying.

Tony had taken to being a grandfather like a duck to water.  He doted on that little boy.  He spoiled him and was still spoiling his mother too.  Sarah’s protests weren’t enough to stop him.  He loved it and he was good at.

You had been getting on better with Sarah.  It was always going to be slightly awkward.  Being the same age as your partner’s daughter is awkward.  But you were not snarking at each other anymore.   Or at least when you did it was a playful snarking.

Work was going well too.  You actually thought that you would have a cure for Bruce before the twins were born.  Bruce kept telling you it could wait, to not overwork yourself.  But every positive step forward excited you.  There were nights in the lab where Tony would come in and physically remove you because you just ended up getting completely absorbed in what you were doing.  You thought the way you were going you could have the cure done before your scheduled cesarean.

With two weeks until you had your 37-week cesarean scheduled you were doing just that.  Working in the lab well past when you said you would and being completely absorbed in your work.  “Bruce, does this look right?”  You ask waving him over to you.

He looks up from what he’s doing and comes over, glancing over the computer simulations you’d been running for the last few months.  He scrolls through things and taps a few keys.  “Looks right to me.   Promising.”

You turn and grin at him.  “Bruce.  We can start testing on the hulk mice.  I think this is the cure.”

“A cure,”  Bruce says.  A smile slowly spreads across his features.  He reaches out to you and you wrap your arms around his waist, a little awkwardly thanks to your now enormous belly.  He melts into you and you feel as his muscles relax.  “I can’t believe this.  I can’t…”

There is a ripple of his muscles down his back and he jerks forward.  “I can’t,”  He repeats, his voice closer to a growl.  He jerks again as his form starts to change, his muscles swelling and expanding down his back.  He pushes you and falls sideways holding onto the table as he struggles to keep himself together.  You see the green tinge creeping into his skin and you stumble backward.

“Run!”  He growls at you.  You stand frozen staring at him.  All this time you’ve been here.  The countless hours in the lab side by side.  The times you had waited anxiously for Tony to return while they were all out on a mission.  You had never once come face to face with the Hulk.

“Run!”  He yells again, but this time his voice is almost a roar.  It doesn’t sound like Bruce at all.  You start to move, but with the size you are paired with the sciatic and back pain, it isn’t fast.  You make it into the hall before the glass window shatters outward spraying everything in shards of glass.  You manage to avoid any serious damage.  Just a few stray cuts, but it causes you to stumble forward, landing on your hands and knees.  The Hulk lands behind you roaring.

“Code Green.  We have a Code Green at the Biology labs.”  The voice of FRIDAY fills the building followed by sirens and the room’s lights dropping.  “Please evacuate the building.”

“Hulk, please.”  You plead, trying to crawl away.  A sharp pain shoots up your spine and grips at your sides.

“You want to kill Hulk.”  He growls lumbering towards you.  “Hulk want to live.”

“I - I don’t … Bruce said…”

Hulk’s roar cuts you off.  “Puny Banner should die.  He the weak one.  Hulk live!”

Another stabbing pain pierces through you and you roll onto your side and curl up into a ball.  “Hulk, please.”  You beg again as tears begin to slip down your cheeks.  “The babies.”

He lumbers over to you and looks down his brow furrowed and his head tilted to the side.  “Hulk hurt babies?”

“Yes.  No.  Something’s wrong.  Please.  I need Tony.”  You cry.  You feel a pop somewhere inside you and your thighs become soaked.

Hulk scoops you up in one hand and cradles you.  “Hulk take you to metal man.”

There is an explosion behind you and Hulk turns quickly to see Tony in his Mark 48 armor hovering in the air blasters pointed.  “I’m right here, Big Guy.  How about you put the lady down, huh?”

“You stupid, metal man,”  Hulk yells, startling you.  “She hurt.  You help her.”

Tony lowers his blasters and floats inside landing on the ground.  The suit opens up and he steps out.  “Sweetheart.  Are you okay?”  He asks rushing to your side.

You shake your head.   “Something wrong.  I think my water broke.”  Another sharp pain runs through you and you cry out and start crying for real, tears soaking your cheeks.  “It’s too early.”   You sob.

“Fuck!”  He yells.  “Come with me.”

Hulk lumbers after Tony, and they head for the service elevator squeezing inside.  “FRIDAY, get Doctor Phillips.  Tell her it’s an emergency.”

The elevator takes you to the medical bay and Hulk places you gently on a stretcher.

“We could really use Banner right now, Big Guy,”  Tony says, getting into scrubs.

“Banner want Hulk dead.  She want to kill Hulk.”  Hulk rumbles stepping away from you both and trying to make himself look small.

“I’ll talk to him.”  You whimper.  Another sharp pain hits you and you scream out with it arching up on the bed.

Tony rushes to your side taking your hand in his.  “Hang in there, honey.  We’re gonna get you help.”  He says looking into your eyes.  “Fuck.  FRIDAY, Wilson.  Tell him it’s an emergency.”

Hulk looks at you frowning.  “You tell Banner.  Hulk want to live.”

You nod your head and he huffs.  Slowly starting to transform back into Bruce.  He’s fully back by the time the elevator doors open and Sam comes rushing out.  “What’s happened?”  They both say almost simultaneously.  Sam’s words coming out rushed and panicked while Bruce is more sluggish and lethargic.

“There was an incident.  She’s in labor.  It’s too early.”  Tony spits out.

Sam rushes to your side and starts pressing on your stomach.  “Babies aren’t really my expertise, Stark.”  He says.  “Fuck, this is bad.  Banner, you gonna be able to help?”

Bruce looks around blinking before beginning to move.  “Just… one minute.”

He disappears as Sam starts looking you over.  “I think we’re going to need to do an emergency cesarean.  This … I do field medicine, Tony.”

You look up at him feeling both helpless and terrified.  Another painful contraction hits.  You double up in pain and see the darkening stain on your pants, that looks a little bit too much like blood.

“Tony.  Oh god.”  You say reaching between your legs and bringing your hand away red.

“It’s okay, sweetheart.  It’s going to be okay.”  He says taking your hand and squeezing it.  He looks at Sam.  “There are doctors on their way, but do what you can now.  Please.”

Sam nods and starts to move.  He cuts away your pants as Bruce comes back into the room.  “I’m so sorry,”  Bruce says, still looking pale.  “This is my fault.”

You shake your head.  “No.  No.  We were so caught up with being able to cure you, we never considered if we should.”

He brings up your chart and furrows his brow before going to get some medications from the refrigeration unit.  “We’re going to put you under.  Okay?  We don’t have time for anything else.”

You nod and both Bruce and Sam work around you.  Putting in a drip. Examining you.  Putting monitors on both you and the babies.  When the general anesthetic is given to you, you count out and just become aware that other people have entered the room and everything goes black.

You come back to consciousness with Bruce sitting beside you.  For one blissful moment, you forget what’s happened.  You’re just a person who has woken from a rather deep sleep.  It all come flooding back at once.  You sit bolt upright and look around wildly.  “Where’s Tony?  Are the babies…?  Did they…?”

Bruce stands and tries to get you to lie back down.  “Shh… you’re going to make yourself sick.  The babies are fine.  Very small.  They’ve been put into incubators.  Tony is with them.  Just relax.  We can wheel them in so you can see them.

You nod and lie back down, trying not to burst into tears.  Bruce picks up a tablet and starts typing on it.   “I’m really sorry.  About everything.  I should have made you take your maternity leave before this happened.”

You reach over and put your hand on his.  “I mean, you could have tried.”  You tease.  He looks up at you, brow furrowed with an expression not dissimilar to the one that the Hulk had when he realized something was wrong.   He opens his mouth to say something and you cut him off.  “It wasn’t your fault.  I understand why you want to be free of that.  But… maybe that’s not the way, Bruce?  Maybe you and he have to learn to share the space.”

He lets out a breath.  “I know.  I think I’ve known that all along.  Which is what makes this all the worse.”

You are about to say something else when Tony steps through the door.  His eyes are red and puffy but when he sees his face lights up.  “Morning, dear.  Did you have a nice nap?”

“I’ve had better.  Now stop messing with me.”  You say looking around trying to see the twins.

He chuckles.  It’s a sound that is laced with exhaustion but he looks back down the hall.  When he steps back through the door fully, he’s followed in by two nurses pushing two clear plastic incubators into the room.  Inside each was a tiny infant.  They were each hooked up to monitors and their little limbs were waving around.  You start crying almost immediately.

“Oh, baby.  Look at you, you big softie.”  Tony teases.

“I can’t help it.”  You say, wiping your eyes.  “Can I hold them?”

One of the nurses takes out one of the little girls.  She carefully brings her over to you and puts her on your chest.  You start crying freely.  Tony climbs up on the bed behind you, he hugs you from behind, offering his finger to the little girl.  She wraps her tiny hand around it and pulls it down to her mouth.  “This is Maria.  Maria.  This is your mommy.  Maria was the first out.  She’s 4 pounds, 8 ounces.”

“She’s so tiny.  Look at her.”  You sniff.

“I see.  She’s fine though, sweetheart.  They both are.”  He says, softly.

The second baby is placed on you two and you press your lips to her head.

“And this is Amanda.  She’s the bruiser.  5 pounds.  Can you believe that?”  Tony asks.

“They’re okay?”  You ask, looking from one to the other.

“They’re perfect.  A little undercooked, but perfect.”  Tony answers.

You look back at him.  “You think we can keep them that way?  We’re not gonna fuck them up to bad?”

Tony laughs.  “Now that’s the question.  But I can promise you one thing, I’m not making the same mistakes my dad did.  I’m going to tell them I love them all the time.  I’m going to encourage them and not push them.  They’re going to know I’m here for them.”

You kiss his jaw before looking back to the girls.  “You’re gonna be great.  I’ve seen you.  You’re great with your bots…”

Tony laughs.  “These aren’t exactly bots, you know?”

“Still.  And the spider-kid.  And you’re an amazing grandfather.  You’ve got this, old man.”

Tony presses his lips to the top of your head.  “Well, so do you, grandma.”   He teases.  “If we can handle the Hulk, I’m pretty sure we can handle these two.”

Bruce laughs.   “I don’t know you two.  The Hulk can be reasoned with.”


End file.
